Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability

December 22, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We're getting ready for the holidays. And we all are focused on making sure we can spend time with our loved ones and do it safely. And so, every day the City is working hard to support the people. 8.8 million New Yorkers, as we fight our way through Omicron. Our health care heroes are out there. Test and Trace Corps is out there. Our vaccinators are out there. A lot going on to keep you safe. And yesterday we announced the largest booster incentive program in the United States of America. It's going to reach so many New Yorkers at a really pivotal moment where we need people to get that booster. And a lot of people could use a little more cash in their pocket. So, $100 incentive for anyone who gets a booster at a City-run site or at one of the partner sites with SOMOS, their clinics and practices. And that goes through this December 31st only. So go out, get that booster, get that incentive. We know vaccination is the key and we know boosters are particularly effective against Omicron. Our health care leaders have been abundantly clear about that. So that's the key, get vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, get that booster.  

But of course, testing is another part of the strategy that matters a lot. We're doubling down on testing. We're working hard to meet the real demand that's out there. We thank, and I thank President Biden who announced half a billion at-home tests that were sent around the country. We're going to get a lot of those. That's going to help a lot. But in the meantime, we're focused on what we can do right here with what we have. And so, announcement today, we're adding seven additional City-run testing sites. As of today, that will bring us up to 119 City-run locations, fixed sites and mobile, all around the five boroughs. To find a test location near you go to nyc.gov/covidtest. Those locations, a lot of them do not have big lines, thankfully. And they're very good at getting you a quick turnaround time. So, let's focus on that.  

Also starting tomorrow, we will have five City mobile distribution sites handing out at-home rapid tests. And this is really important because we want to make sure, you know, of course for those who can go to one of the testing sites, get the PCR test. That's great. But we want to make sure more and more of the at-home tests are available as an alternative. We're starting to get a little more supply. We need a whole lot more. But we will have starting tomorrow, five City mobile distribution sites solely for the purpose of handing out at-home tests for those who need them. Those locations will be around the city. They'll be posted shortly. We want to make sure testing goes well. There will be some lines. There's no doubt about it, particularly at the private sites. But our job is to minimize the lines at the City-run sites and at our partner sites. Get you the best possible experience. Get you the quickest possible results. A little bit later, we're going to hear from Dr. Katz. I think he's coming on in a few minutes. So, we'll get him back to talk about some of the specifics of that.  

But so, we focus obviously every day on the COVID crisis, on the challenge of Omicron and how we overcome it. And I'm very confident this city will overcome it. In fact, it looks like it's going to be a very brief period, intense and challenging, but very brief. And we have a lot of tools to fight back. So, right now COVID is in the front of our lives, in the front of our faces. It's what we're focused on. But we know the COVID era will end. And hopefully as early as 2022, if we do the right thing, if we get vaccinated, we know the COVID era will end. We have powerful tools we're using to get everyone vaccinated, like our private sector vaccine mandates starting on Monday. But as we think ahead to the COVID era ending, we're going to have to redouble our efforts in fighting an even bigger challenge in many ways. And that's the climate crisis. That is going to be a huge challenge for our future. It already is. And up ahead, so we want to speak about that. But I'm getting a signal? Is that a Dr. Katz signal? Dr. Katz is with us. Okay. So, I'm going to hold – I want to talk about the climate situation in just a second. But let's go back on the point about ensuring with COVID, with Omicron with testing, making sure that everyone who goes to a City-site has a better experience, faster experience, good turnaround time on their tests. Dr. Mitch Katz, head of Health + Hospitals, has been working hard over the last few days to add reinforcement to improve the process. Let's hear from Dr. Kaz with an update.  

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes. Thank you so much, sir. And we so much appreciate that New Yorkers are going out and getting tested. That proves that New Yorkers want to be able to get through this pandemic without infecting family members and friends. That they're very considerate and want to make sure that they're safe and others are safe. We have over the last few days, had some challenges in meeting the demand. So many people have come out for testing. And for a period of time, we did not have home test kits. Which are a great way of making testing happen more quickly. But today we are expanding hours on all our Health + Hospital sites from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. We've been able to do that by going virtual for our ambulatory care visits, so that I can then have nurses and other staff who work in our clinics be available in the testing areas to make the testing go much faster. We've also now acquired a sufficient number of testing kits so that we will be able to hand them out to people who feel comfortable going home and doing a test. And that will also keep our lines short. So, we have plenty of testing capacity now in terms of our labs. And I think people will have a very different experience.  

So, I want to add one other update about Health + Hospitals. For a temporary period, we are going to be tighter about restricting visitors. We've never gone back to our usual open visitation policy. In general, I'm a big believer that people should have visitors when they're in the hospital and that those visitors should stay as long as they're able to. But we've had a recent outbreak in one of our hospitals that we think is related to visitors, not of course their fault. There's so much transmission going on right now in New York City because of Omicron. And so, for a short while, while we get the situation under control we're going to have limited visitation. We'll always make exceptions in extreme cases. Certainly, every woman who is in labor will be able to bring someone with her. If it's an end of life, hospice situation, of course, family members will be allowed to come. If there is a sick child, of course, parents will be allowed to stay with the child. But for a short time in order to make sure that we don't cause more disease, we need to limit the number of visitors. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Katz. Thank you for the update. Thank you for what you're doing to manage this situation. And what you said was absolutely crucial for everyone to understand. We're going to make some adjustments, to make sure that we can take care of people, to make sure that we get people the help they need. But this is going to be a brief period of time, a brief and intense period of time. But Health + Hospitals will make sure that they make the right adjustments. They've been through, if I could be blunt, they've been through a hell of a lot worse than this, and managed to come through it very, very well. So, that's an update in terms of making sure people can get quality testing and also the other adjustments for making sure that care is there for anyone who needs it when they need it.  

Okay, let's go back where I was. As I was saying, you know, there is a day coming and it's actually, hopefully not too long if we get enough people vaccinated, if we do the right thing, get enough people with boosters. The day is coming when the COVID era is behind us and the big focus will necessarily be climate change. And we saw what happened with the tornadoes in the Midwest, in the South. We've seen the wildfires in the West. We've seen horrible flooding. We've seen hurricanes. We've seen so many things that tell us the impact of the climate crisis is growing. And we've got to do everything possible to address it. Today, New York City is going to make history. A bill that is the best example to the entire country, in fact, to the world of making big changes quickly. We already have the toughest legislation in the country, the toughest laws in the country, on buildings and emissions and limiting emissions from buildings. We are now adding a crucial new piece of law that will change things profoundly and quickly. What we're saying is we are banning oil and gas use in new buildings. Now this will phase in over the next few years, but the bottom line is we're going to get buildings away from oil and gas, away from those fossil fuels, get them onto electricity, which is increasingly becoming renewable electricity. This is part of how we wean ourselves off fossil fuels once and for all. We are convinced this is going to have a major impact right here in this city, reducing emissions, improving health. Less pollution equals better health. But also setting an example that other cities, states, nations will follow. When New York City does something. It is felt all over the world. So, all new buildings will be electric by 2027. No more use of fossil fuels on site, going electric.  

And we know this is one of the essential things we have to do to make the change. This follows on our mandates for buildings to reduce emissions. This follows on our efforts to divest from fossil fuel investments with our pension funds. It all comes together and there's more to do. And I want you to hear from someone now, who really is one of the founders of the movement to stop the climate crisis. And one of the people who has done the most to wake us up to the dangers of fossil fuels. And the fact that we have to go in a radically different direction. My conversations with him were one of the things that inspired me to move for divestment of our pension funds. His voice matters a lot. And I want you to hear from him about what this new law today will mean here and all over the nation, all over the world. My pleasure to introduce the founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben.  

[...]  

Bill, thank you. And I want to say something, I want to ask you something. What I want to say is none of us could have gotten this far without your leadership, your personal leadership and 350.org. You've really lit the path for so many of us. And I want to thank you, from my heart for that. And Bill, a lot of people, including a lot of younger people, my kids' generation, worry, it's too late. And I always say to people, even if we fear that, we can't give up, we don't exactly know what the future brings. We just understand how urgent the situation is. These kinds of things can make a difference. I think it'd be really helpful for people to hear your perspective on why to keep fighting, even though we're hearing dire warnings.  

Bill McKibben, 350.org: Well, it's a very good question. Look, your kids in some ways are right. We're very late in the game. And we're behind. It's not a good sign when the Arctic melts, you know. And we're not going to stop global warming. That unfortunately is off the menu at this point. But we can, we think, still stop it short of the place where it cuts civilizations off at the knees. In order to do that, we have to move with the kind of speed that New York is moving today. The scientists have told us that we need to cut emissions in half by 2030 if we're to meet the targets that we set in Paris. That's a huge job. And it's going to strain our abilities. But the good thing is that the scientists and engineers have cut the price of renewable energy to the point where it's the cheapest power on the planet. The only things now that are holding us back are a toxic combination of vested interest in inertia. And those are the two things that the City of New York is standing up to today. So, no guarantees that we're going to win this fight. It's a timed test and humans are not that great at timed tests always. But this is a good sign of precisely what we need to be doing everywhere. And of course, it begins in New York.  

Mayor: Thank you so much, Bill. And Bill, you know what? Every single thing you called on us to do could be done and has been done. I really want to emphasize this because as I am closing out my eight years, pretty much everything we tried to do, someone said was impossible, whether it was Pre-K for All or hundreds of thousands of affordable apartments. Whatever it was with the first response typically was, that can't be done. That's too much, that's too fast. But whether it was divestment or our building emissions law, or this new law to get rid of oil and gas in our new buildings, they all actually could be done. And now we have to go even faster. So, I just want to thank you because I'm sure you heard a lot of doubting Thomases along the way, but you never stop telling us, yes. Sí, se puede as they like to say, you know, you always told us it could be done. So, thank you for that brother.  

All right, everybody. The climate crisis demands urgency. And so, even as I'll be signing a law later today, I'm going to be signing some executive orders now that really matter. I said we were going to sprint to the finish of our administration. This is going to be some further evidence of that because the climate crisis is so powerfully clear at this point, we have to act right now. So, we have two executive orders I'll be signing. And I also want to summarize some of the other actions we've taken, including in our most recent budget modification, just a few weeks ago. First, a focus on solar power, wind power and hydro power. Increasing the supply for New York City. That means for our City government, we will be 100 percent clean energy powered by 2025. All the electricity we use, in just the next few years will be clean energy, no fossil fuels. Because now we have secured, including with the action we took with Hydro Quebec, we have secured the solar power, the wind power, the solar, wind, and hydro power combined to get us to that goal. For the city as a whole, we now are on a pathway to clean energy, clean electricity that will power two and a half million New York City homes each year. That's what we've set in place. That is now going to play out to make this a safer, cleaner city. A lot more has to come behind that. But it's a great step.  

Now, second point, the investments that we put in the budget include $420 million towards creating a fully green municipal fleet. We have a lot of vehicles. They have to all become electric. So, we have now the most aggressive targets in the country for converting our vehicles to electric. We have sped up our previous goals because of the urgency. Every vehicle will eventually be electric, whether it's a school bus or a public safety vehicle or the cars that officials drive around in. And speaking of those officials, we are requiring those vehicles to be converted to electric in the very near term. And we also want to get away from SUVs once and for all, there are better alternatives available and more and more green alternatives available. That's where we need to go. Finally, as part of that latest budget, 4.6 billion over the next years to upgrade infrastructure in every part of the city to make sure that our City government continues to get greener and greener and greener and more able to address the climate crisis through our own actions. We have to model for the people of the city and for the whole world that it can be done and must be done. I'm going to sign these executive orders and to make sure that all of these plans, all these pledges are followed through on. One of the actions I'm taking today is to appoint a Chief Decarbonization Officer for the City of New York, a Chief Decarbonization Officer who will be responsible for ensuring that these goals are met and, in fact, intensified at the first available moment that every part of the City government is moving to reduce emissions and keep us on track to reduce our government emissions by 70 percent, by 2030, we can do that 70 percent reduction by 2030. We can do that. I think we'll even be able to do better, if we act aggressively. So, I'm going to sign these executive orders now. And one thing we are learning about the climate crisis, as soon as you achieve one change, immediately start on the next.   

All right. I want you to hear from someone who's been helping to lead the way and she and her organization have done just extraordinary work at changing laws, changing approaches all over this country, but specifically here in New York state, want to hear from the President of the New York League of Conservation Voters, Julie Tighe.  

[…]   

Mayor: Thank you, Julie. Thank you, and we are going to keep acting and thank you for your great leadership as well. And I want to speak about one more important climate issue but tease the fact that we're going to have a special guest on who can certainly among other things speak to the incredible victory of that Infrastructure Bill getting past, and the fact that we're going to keep fighting together for even more support from Washington on climate and so many other issues. But in the meantime, we're going to keep making things happen here in New York City and our special guest also had a lot to do with the next topic I'm going to talk about for a moment, which is Governor's Island. Governors Island, once upon a time belonged to the federal government. I'm going to first talk about this and then I want our senior Senator to weigh in on, on a variety of things. But the fact is that Chuck Schumer and Jerry Nadler and other great leaders helped to make sure that Governor's Island became something that would be crucial to the future of this city and the City took over Governor' Island. And originally, of course, what we experienced today, an amazing place to go, a beautiful place for families and recreation and history and culture, but now we're going to make it something so much more. And earlier in the year, we announced a global competition. A global competition to make Governors Island, the climate research and action center, not just for the United States, but for the whole world, because if there's any place that you should have a global headquarters, it's New York City. We're the capital of the world. In so many ways, we have the United Nations. We have every community from all over the Earth represented, and we are feeling as one of the world's great coastal cities, the impact of climate change. We saw it with Hurricane Sandy to say the least. We are the place that has the talent, the drive, the energy to create the climate solutions of the future, to build the consensus for them to keep driving us forward.   

So, we asked some of the greatest academic and research institutions around this country to join together and apply to run this new extraordinary center. This is an unprecedented effort to focus all our energies on fighting the climate crisis. We now have four finalists and the final decision will be made in the next few months, but four finalists led by key academic institutions who want to take this project and make it great. I want to congratulate them today. First, CUNY and the New School with other partners. Thank you for that great application. MIT has come in with a powerful application. Northeastern University. Stony Brook University. We've got four applications that are all powerful, great partnerships. I want to thank each and every one of them. And I want them to know that this decision is coming very, very soon. And then we're going to start to make big changes with this center. The eyes of the world are going to be on Governors Island. I want you to hear from an expert, who has been also one of the real thinkers about how we address the climate crisis, who has studied the challenges, but also the solutions. He's a former Chief Scientist and Manager of the Climate Air Program at the Environmental Defense Fund and Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs, and also Director the Center for Research-Policy Research, excuse me, on Energy and Environment at Princeton University wears a lot of hats. My great pleasure to introduce, Dr. Michael Oppenheimer.  

[…]   

Mayor: Thank you. Let me tell you, you've been right there with us every step of the way. You are a proud New Yorker, I can tell. But you've really helped us as we've been formulating our policies and approaches. I really want to thank you for that. And this needs to be the global center because Lord knows we do not have enough action yet in this world on the climate crisis. So, thank you for being one of the people, who's helping to make this happen.  

[…]   

Mayor: Now, I mentioned a special guest, who's joined us now. And it's kind of amazing whether, you talk about Governors Island. Well, he made that happen. He made that part of New York City's future. Talk about the Infrastructure Bill. Well, he made that happen. What can be in the future in the Congress to address the crying needs of this city and this country? He's the guy who's going to have the biggest impact. How did we come out of the worst of the COVID crisis. Where did we get the help, we needed? Where did we get the Stimulus and the support to get back on our feet? He made it happen. So, I want to honor him today. One of my last opportunities as Mayor of this city. And but I want to speak very personally, first, about Chuck Schumer because the entire time I've known him, I've admired him. And I remember first seeing him at a town hall meeting in Kensington, Brooklyn, I was just out of college, had an apartment with a roommate. One of my college friends, we got an apartment in Kensington. We went to a town hall meeting and there was our local Congressmember, Chuck Schumer. And I listened to him and I was mesmerized. And we talked along the way and I remember so vividly, when he made the decision to run for the U.S. Senate, wasn't an easy decision. But none of us knew at the time, how pretentious that would be of the future in which he would be become Majority Leader of the Senate and do so much good in the nation's greatest crisis in nearly a hundred years. But what I think of very personally, as well, is the, just the humanity and decency of Chuck's humor.  


 
If you look in the dictionary under the word mensch, you're going to see a picture of Chuck. His feet are on the ground. They've always been on the ground, no matter how high he soars, no matter what title, his feet are on the ground. He is grounded in his beloved Brooklyn. He's grounded by his impromptu bicycle trips all over our borough and our city. He's grounded by his perhaps less than iconic experience with the Madison High School basketball team, which he recounts frequently. And we remember everyone, Madison High School, Brooklyn, cradle of United States Senators, we can say that for sure. But Chuck started out against the odds, started out in public life, made an impact everywhere. He's been climbed and climbed and climbed, but always, always, always remembered where he came from. And there's no finer a public servant that this city has produced literally in our entire history. And I'm putting Chuck Schumer up in the pantheon with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Fiorello LaGuardia because he has met the moment. He has dealt with a crisis beyond any of our imagination. And if he weren't there this country would not be able to get through what we've gotten through already. That is a guarantee. And this city was saved in so many ways by his action. So, this is personal and emotional for me, but it's also as the person, as the honor representing, 8.8 million New Yorkers, this is something I hope and believe would bring about the greatest unanimity you've ever seen in this city. There's someone who deserves the Key to New York City. He's sitting right next to me now and is my pleasure to present this honor to Senator and Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer.   

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: Let me unmask for this.    

Mayor: Yes, you can unmask for this occasion.   

Majority Leader Schumer: Thank you, Mayor.  

Mayor:  I believe you're vaccinated.   

Majority Leader Schumer: Thank you. Three Times.    

[…] 

Majority Leader Schumer: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Well, thank you, Mayor and it is truly an honor to receive this Key to the City, I love so dearly and have lived in my whole life. And before and on behalf of, I want to just thank my staff for all the years, I've been, whether it's Assemblyman, Congressman, Senator, now Majority Leader, I have been blessed with such a hard working dedicated, smart, diverse, compassionate staff, and all of the things we've been able to do in Washington or here at the local level, I couldn't do without them. And let me just say New York is a labor of love for me. You know, my dad, as you know, who just passed away a few weeks ago, he had a junky little exterminating business. He hated his job. He would pace the floor Sunday nights at 2:00 AM, but he never complained. And he taught us things not so much by preaching, but by example. And one of them is the greatest satisfaction you can have, is helping other people. But another is, he said, you want to, you got to go, whatever profession you go into, whatever job you go, you got to love your work. That it's a blessing to be able to do that. Something he never had in this junkie little exterminating business. I love my-I work wake up Monday mornings, no matter how big, the challenge, ready to go. And what motivates me is New York. I just love this city. It's just such an amazing place. As you said, Mayor, I ride my bicycle all over and I stop and I talk to people and I see things I'd never seen before. It's just an amazing, it's an amazing, amazing place. So anytime New York's needed help, I've tried to be there with each crisis. When I got George Bush to commit 20 billion to New York City, reluctantly, after 9/11, although he stuck by his word after the Financial Crisis, of course, Super Storm Sandy, and probably our greatest challenge was COVID, where we delivered you know, billions, hundreds of billions, of dollars to New York and its institutions and helped bring things back. So, I am honored to receive this Key. I'm honored to be in the company of people like Spike Lee.  

Mayor: Doesn't get better than that.   

Majority Leader Schumer: The amazing Met got it. One person I do want to mention Ray Pfeifer, who passed away, who had helped lead the charge to those who rushed the towers to get the medical help. And he was there in Washington, even when he was dying cancer. He's somebody I've looked up to and he's received the Key as well. So, I'm honored to receive the Key. I will never ever stop fighting for New York as long as I have air in my lungs. That's what I love to do. That's what gives me joy and satisfaction. The love of this great, the greatest city, as you mentioned in the world.   

Mayor: Amen. Beautiful.   

Majority Leader Schumer: Oh, I have one more thing.   

Mayor: You must.   

Majority Leader Schumer: Yes. Now, we always try to help New York.   

Mayor: Please.   

Majority Leader Schumer: You know about this. So, I'm sending a letter to FEMA today. I got the letter here somewhere. Here it is. Asking them for a hundred new mobile testing locations. We need these locations across the city. Now, today, they said, they're sending six, that is not close to enough, given the magnitude of the crisis and what we need. I asked the federal government, two, three weeks ago in one of my little Sunday press conferences to do this now COVID is raging. The variant is raging. We need these mobile testing sites. You see people lined up all over in every part of the city waiting to be tested. We need testing. Testing is one of the best ways to beat this virus. So, I hope that FEMA, I know you've joined me in for this, Mayor, asking for this.   

Mayor:  Yes.   

Majority Leader Schumer: But I hope that FEMA will send us this. This is the key, testing and it can be done at mobile sites. It can be done. We need more self-tests sent to people's homes. They shouldn't charge them for it. We can beat this crisis if we're smart and right on the ground with all, you know, right, with all the help we need right on the ground. We need these, we need these hundred mobile sites and we need FEMA to do with ASAP. And that's what I'm going to be fighting for in the next day.  

Mayor: Well, you remember the old EF Hutton ads?   

Majority Leader Schumer: Yes.   

Mayor: You know, if EF Hutton talked, I think when you tell FEMA you need a hundred testing sites, our chances of getting those testing sites just jumped up a bit.  

Majority Leader Schumer: Let's hope.    

Mayor: You know, they just jumped up. But listen Senator, I think people going through so much, and I want to tell you, knowing you were there was one of the things that kept us all going. I mean, knowing you there every time I called you. You responded not just responded, responded quickly and with passion about what could be done next. And you always went to bat for New York City and your batting average is pretty good.   

Majority Leader Schumer: Thank you.   

 Mayor: I always say it helps to have a Majority Leader come from your city.   

Majority Leader Schumer: Yes, first time in ever. But let me just say, let me return the compliment. I cannot, I cannot tell you how often the Mayor called with so many requests. Each one of them thought out, each one of them smart. Each one of them careful. 917-***-**. I know his cell number by heart, he called so many times. I'm not giving you the last two.   

Mayor: That's good.   


 
Senator Schumer: But he's always – he's been always there fighting like a tiger for New York, and especially during crises, we probably talked at least once a day.   

Mayor: Yeah, we did. And –  but it really, it helped me and all my team to know you were there, but I think for everyday New Yorkers too, to look and always hear you, you at the front fighting for us, getting things done.   

Senator Schumer: Well, thank you.   

Mayor: And Senator, I'm going to ask very broadly because it's on the minds of everyone. Everyone, obviously, it was a tough week. We all felt let down.   

Senator Schumer: Yep.   

Mayor: From, from certain things that happened in Washington, but I want to make it a positive. I know you enough to say ballgame is never over if you're on the playing field. I think it would be great if just been a moment updating New Yorkers on how you're going to proceed.  

Senator Schumer: So, we had a caucus meeting Zoom last night where just about everyone participated and there was universal feeling that we are not giving up, that we are continuing the fight on two major fronts, both of which we need very badly. One of course is Built Back Better, and Joe Manchin was on the phone and lots of our members made pleas to him to continue and negotiate, and he agreed to do that, the President said that the other day. BBB is so important to so many people in so many ways, including New York. We will fight until we get it. We will keep fighting. And the second thing we also agreed on is this –what they're trying to do in so many legislatures across the country on voting rights, taking away people's voting rights, redrawing the lines of the legislature in a jaundice political and sometimes bigoted way. And we're going to move on that, that may mean we may have to change the rules because we won't get any support from the other side, but we're doing it. So, we had a great discussion last night and there was virtual unanimity that we should be moving forward on these fronts, and we’re going to work hard to come to an agreement to get there.  

Mayor: Well, that is extraordinarily encouraging and the fact that everyone's talking, but most especially the fact that you are helping everyone, because I've watched with incredible admiration, you have quite a flock there, Senator.   

Senator Schumer: Yes I do.   

Mayor: And yet you keep a warm and personal connection with each and every one, across the spectrum, and that gives me hope.   

Senator Schumer: Thank you.   

Mayor: That gives me hope.  

Senator Schumer: Thank you so much. Thank you for this great honor. I will treasure it because it symbolizes the place I love so much, New York.   

Mayor: And we love you back.   

Senator Schumer: Thank you.   

Mayor: Thank you Senator. All right, everyone, as we continue, every time we gather, we go over the indicators and these both show us the good and the challenge like never before. The good, we've now passed 13 million vaccine doses from day one. 13 million times a New Yorker rolled up their sleeve and got a vaccination, and that number is growing rapidly, and remember that $100 incentive to get the booster, want people to take full advantage of that quickly. 13,011,904 doses to date. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 220 patients, confirmed positively 53.46 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 2.21, and we're going to talk more obviously in the question and answer about this, but the good news is our hospitals are doing well and we are seeing a very different reality than we saw in 2020, many fewer people in ICUs, thank God. So, even though we're seeing these higher numbers, we're able to sustain. The last number is staggering, new reported cases on a seven-day average, this is a number, of course, we've never seen, 10,991 cases, and that number probably continues to go up. But again we don't take that lightly. It's very, very, very big challenge, but it looks like it'll be a very concentrated challenge for a few weeks, so far continue to see some evidence that these are more mild cases, hospitals holding, but the key and the thing we can do about it, the thing that will make all the difference is vaccination. So, it's going out getting that booster, getting your child vaccinated, the private sector vaccine mandate coming into effect Monday, all these things are going to help us fight back and limit the impact of Omicron for the - what looks to be the brief time it will be very, very much in our lives. Okay. A few words in Spanish and the topic is on testing for COVID   

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish:]    
     
With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.    

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Dr. Ted long, head of the Test and Trace Corps, by Ben Furnas, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Climate Sustainability, and by Clare Newman, the President and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island. First question today goes to Juan Manuel from NY1.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?   

Mayor: Good, Juan. Manuel. How are you doing?  

Question: I'm very good. Thank you. The least questions.   

Mayor: Feliz Navidad.  

Question: Thank you very much. This might be the last questions I'm asking you while you are Mayor of the City. So, given that only 22 percent of New York City electricity comes from renewable sources, how is it possible that New York City government will be a 100 percent clean energy powered in just four years? I'm assuming you spoke about this with the Mayor-elect. And what would you do about our dependence on fossil fuels if you become Governor?  

Mayor: So, two very different questions, and on the second one, I'll say – I'll have more to say on all the issues affecting the State in the weeks ahead. But we're going to have to use very, very aggressive approaches to address climate change. What we've seen just these last days in our country is yet another urgent message. So I want to see the kinds of things that we've done here in New York City extended all over the state, and I want to see a lot more than that. We're going to have to be really tough to make sure we reduce building emissions, to get away from fossil fuel powered vehicles. We need to, everywhere we can, just speed the conversion aggressively, but again, there'll be an opportunity to say a lot more of that at starting in the next few weeks. The way we know we can get to all green, all electric energy for city government by 2025, the reason we believe in it were the actions we've been taking now over years and the investments we've made, I'm going to turn to Ben Furnas, who's the Director of the Mayor's Office for Climate and Sustainability, but I think the simplest way to say it Juan Manuel, well we really moved heaven and earth come to an agreement with Hydro-Québec to make sure we would have that renewable power and we've taken a lot of other actions to conserve power, to retrofit our buildings, to make all the pieces come together so we could do clean electricity as a future of New York City government starting in 2025. Ben, you want to add to that?  

Director Ben Furnas, Mayor’s Office of Climate and Sustainability: That's exactly right, right, Mr. Mayor, and good morning. So because of our commitment to purchase clean electricity for New York City municipal needs. Because of our partnership with the State, there'll be two new transmission lines that'll be built. The first of which is, is scheduled to be complete in 2025. So, when that new transmission line that runs for from New York City up into Québec, it'll bring clean and renewable hydro power and wind power right into the five boroughs to help us get our electricity from clean and green renewable sources.  

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead, Juan Manuel.  

Question: And on COVID, we know that the number are going up when it comes to infections in congregate shelters among the homeless population, also – among our jail population. Are you thinking of taking any measures like you did last year when it came to shelters and Rikers Island?  

Mayor: Well, look, we're always looking at the situation we're facing and, and always listening to the health care leaders and following what the information is telling us, but I want to emphasize it is a different scenario than what we faced in the past. Again, with what we're seeing so far in Omicron intense surge, but less impact, and we also believe it'll be for a brief period of time. So that does not suggest doing things the way we did last year, it suggests a different game plan. We also have a hell of a lot more people vaccinated than we did when we went through the challenges last year, and that's the foundation of all things. The vaccination efforts continue in any kind of congregate setting and obviously as well in our jails, in terms of our staffing in the jails, uniform staff 85 percent of uniform staff now vaccinated that number's going to go up. Constantly providing vaccination folks who are incarcerated, obviously in a very different way with homeless shelters, we're constantly providing vaccination as well. Employees are vaccinated now across the board. We're always offering to residents as well. So, vaccination is the game changer and makes the difference. What I can say is the good news in terms of even with the massive challenges, and I'll turn to Dr. Katz on this, that in our correction system, some immediate steps have been taken to help ease some of the impact here of this COVID surge. We have, of course, most importantly reduced our jail population, its down 700 people over the last few months. That's a big deal in the context of the overall population, and we're going to keep driving that down. And as of the information we got just in the last few hours, even though there has been a number of cases that have not been hospitalizations, and that's what we're seeing in general that this, this more mild impact, thank God so far more cases, but not resulting in the worst outcomes, in many cases, of course not resulting in hospitalization. So, that's what we're seeing. Dr. Katz, you want to talk about some of the measures you're taking in terms of the correction system.  

President Katz: Yes. Thank you, sir. We have opened up another unit for inmates who are infected so that we can keep them isolated and try to limit the number of infections that occur. We are, of course constantly increasing the vaccination rate among both the inmates and the staff who work at the jails. And as you said, sir, I've checked as of this morning despite a major increase in infections, we have no hospitalizations,  and when it comes to the jail population, we move people very quickly from the jail to the hospital if there are even a question because we recognize that jails can be difficult places to monitor people. So it gives me great pleasure in this really awful time that at least so far we have we have no hospitalization. Thank you, sir.   

Mayor: Thank you. The next is James Ford from PIX-11.  

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call and congratulations to Senator Schumer for getting the key to the city.  

Mayor: Amen. No one more worthy, James  

Question: You said it, and I will ask the question. You and your health care team have said that at city run COVID testing sites, the turnaround time for getting testing results is typically 36 hours or in many cases less. I'm just trying to figure out what hard evidence we have for that statement?  How is it monitored? How does that get reported?  

Mayor: Okay, I'll turn to Dr. Long and say obviously, stating the obvious James, it does vary with time and demand. But clearly when we say it it's based on actual experience and it also varies by location depending on demand, but what I think we can say safely is a lot of the biggest lines we've seen have been at private providers. They of course have to turn around and go to a lab and get the results, Health + Hospitals has much more ability to move staff around, to get results more quickly because of the way it's all structured, and now 119 sites this week between the fixed sites and the mobile sites. So strongly urge people to go to the nearest Heath + Hospital site to get that test. Dr. Long in terms of how you track and how you can confirm and what the latest turnaround times are, what do you got?  

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test & Trace Corps: Yeah. Thanks, James. It's a great question. So, what we're doing now, citywide is we are doing unprecedented levels of testing. We're doing nearly 170,000 tests in one day. Our previous record gains had been 120,000 tests in one day. And over the last several days, we have noticed, because we track very closely the wait times that the wait times have been getting longer for the turnaround at our city run lab. It is still much faster than other labs, but what we're doing today is by the end of the day today, making substantial operational changes to get us back to our constant goal of 24 hours. Thanks James.   

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, James.  

Question: Appreciate that, and then on behalf of my colleague, Alison Kaden, this question – can you and the health leaders [inaudible] quarantine for vaccinated people, is it wise perhaps to require a full quarantine now that Omicron is spreading among the vaccinated New Yorkers and what is Test and Trace specifically telling people about this?  

Mayor: A great question. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, and then anything that Dr. Katz or Dr. Long want to add. Let's state the obvious to, as the layman here, James, that we have an evolving dynamic. We haven't seen anything quite like Omicron before. We also have a, a reconsideration happening in Washington of what the period of quarantine or isolation should be. So there's a lot of different things moving right now, and we will keep updating our approach accordingly, but I can tell you if the basic, you know, if it begins with something as simple as if your sick stay home, if test positive, separate from other folks, those basics don't change. But how we approach it operationally, what the standard should be that can change over time. Dr. Chokshi, why don't you start with the latest?  

Question: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. And I appreciate your emphasizing the most important point, which is that anyone who tests positive does need to isolate. That is very important to help us break chains of transmission so that other people are not exposed during the period of an infectious period for a case. Now our current isolation period is 10 days, and that includes whether you're fully vaccinated or unvaccinated. That's based on what we know about the duration with which someone is infectious. We are following the science carefully here and speaking with scientists around the world to figure out if it may be possible, at least for certain groups, to shorten the duration of that isolation period. For example, in some other countries particularly to help with the health care workforce, they have modified the isolation period only for people who are fully vaccinated. We are not quite ready to take that step, but it is something that we're considering and deliberating on. So, again, I just want to give a very clear message to the public, which is if you're feeling sick, very important to stay home, if you test positive, very important to isolate, and the current recommendation is to do so for 10 days.  

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Kat, anything to add?  

President Katz: I think Dr. Chokshi has, has covered it very well. In the health care setting, there are some health care providers who are looking at shortening the duration for people who are positive because in health care settings people are wearing N95 masks, which offer a much stronger protection. So, I think everyone is trying to find the right balance between keeping people isolated, which prevents them from going to work, and potentially exposing others by having people believe too soon, and well, the science is still unclear on these issues. Thank you, sir.   

Mayor: Thank you, sir. Dr. Long you have anything to add?  

Executive Director Long: Yeah. One note, the vaccine does work against every variant, including Omicron, it does provide protection. Therefore if you're vaccinated and you're not symptomatic, where a mask for 14 days, get tested at day five to know if you have COVID, that's clear guidance. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you.   

Moderator: The next is Michael Garland from the Daily News.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my questions.  

Mayor: Good morning, Michael. How are you doing?   

Question: I'm okay. I'm doing okay. Thanks for asking. So, I wanted ask you about these testing sites that the federal government is launching. Senator Schumer said it would be six. When and where do you expect those sites to go up?  

Mayor: We're getting the final word literally in these next hours of exactly both locations and hours and the amount of personnel they'll have. We're certainly working with the federal government to target them to some places where we have particular need. So that's definitely going to help. I'm very excited these additional sites are coming. I want a hell of a lot more, obviously both in terms of new sites, agree with Senator Schumer, more federal sites and a hell of a lot more of that in-home testing with those kits coming. But in the meantime, of course, again, our, our mainstay is our now 119 city sponsored sites. But we're going to - we'll have much more detail that we'll put out with the federal government in the next few hours. Go ahead, Michael.  

Question: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. My second question has to do with solitary confinement or punitive segregation, as it's also known. I want to read to you something that the Mayor-elect said yesterday. He said, I wore a bulletproof vest for 22 years and protected the people of the city. And when you do that, then you have the right to question me on safety and public safety matters. This was in response to a letter more than a dozen Council members put out, pushing back on his plans as far as punitive segregation goes. And it seems to suggest, you know, as a former a police officer he has, you know, like a, kind of, monopoly on – well, at least some critics have said on these issues of public safety. What do you make of that statement?  

Mayor: Well, first of all, I want to say I have a lot of respect, everyone knows it, for the Mayor-elect. I'm working very, very closely with him on this transition. I think he brings extraordinary understanding from his experience as both a police officer and a police reformer, but I've also known him to be someone that always listens to different perspectives and works cooperatively with people. Fundamentally, what he and I have been trying to achieve is the same thing in terms of our Correction system. We need a safe and secure environment for those who are incarcerated and those who work in the system. And, at the same time, we have to get rid of the things that were part of our past that held us down and did not redeem people, but actually made the situation worse. We’ve got to close Rikers Island. We’ve got to go to modern, redemption-focused, rehabilitation-focused facilities. We’ve got to get away from the approach to solitary confinement that bred mental health problems and conflict. And there is a way to isolate an inmate who has committed an offense, to isolate them from the general population, do it in a safe way, but do it without the excesses of the past. And that's exactly what we have been building. And I think there's actually a lot of common ground with the Mayor-elect on that.  

Moderator: Next is Katie Honan in from The City.  

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. Can you hear me? How are you?  

Mayor: Good morning, Katie. You sound energized today. How are you?  

Question: I'm just trying, brother. I'm trying to stay up. I'm trying to stay positive. It's not – it's certainly difficult. My question, you know, is about where, sort of, the testing sites are coming. You know, the joke is can you give a key to the city to opened some of these testing sites? I drove by a long line on Northern Boulevard today, because the City shut down a site that had the capacity for hundreds. So, what is the strategic plan on that? And, additionally, you know, I know that there are some CBO’s who'll be giving out rapid tests and handing them out. Which centers – will there be list of that? Because elected officials yesterday in Queens, particularly – in particular, said they had no idea where some of these at-home and the K95’s are going to be handed out. So, will that be distributed so people know where to go?  

Mayor: Yeah, let me – thank you for the question. And look, Queens is clearly a place where we need a lot more testing capacity and we’ll be focus on that, as will the federal government. But you had a couple of things there. I'm going to turn to Dr. Kaz and Dr. Long – you know, one, making sure everyone knows about our testing sites, the 119. I want them to explain how we make that information available. Two, the initiative to hand out the test kits through the community-based organizations that we announced on Sunday. And then, of course, we're waiting on a big resupply. This is what we need to make everything work better both from the private market and from the federal government. We want to get those kits in our hands, because then we can turn around and get them to people in much faster manner. So, in terms of how we're building out on these fronts, particular emphasis on Queens, Dr. Katz, then Dr. Long.  

President Katz: Thank you, sir. Thanks for the question. I think the most important thing for listeners to know is that to go to our website – so we just went to look just this minute and we have multiple testing sites where you can get a test within 30 minutes. The vast majority are currently running times under one hour. So, we are going to keep expanding even in those places where you might – the wait might be an hour. You'll find that people can be – will be handed a home test kit if they wish to not have to stand on that line. So, we urge people to go to Health + Hospitals’ website and look at – under Test and Trace – and you'll see in real time how long the is at all of our sites and be able to choose one that does not require waiting. And then, on our side, we are watching the wait times and we are constantly moving people and moving vans. We can't always, of course, know which sites people are going to go to on a particular day. So, we do the same thing we ask people to do. We watch the site. We watch the length of time people have to wait. And if we see that a large number of people have gone to one site and have lengthened the line, we send additional resources. Thank you, sir.   

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Long?  

Executive Director Long: Yes. Thanks for the question, Katie. So, to find where our 119 locations are today, go to nyc.gov/covidtest. On the interactive map, look for Health + Hospitals’ facilities, but you can also see what private facilities might be more convenient for you. Also, underneath that is where all of our mobile locations are situated for that day, including for the next couple of days. Go to our Test and Trace Corps. website, part of the Health + Hospitals website, to see the wait times for our brick-and-mortar sites. As Dr. Katz said, we just counted seven in less than an hour. And, actually, the wait times are coming down at several of our sites, probably due to the fact we bolstered the staff at our hospitals and Gotham Community Health Center sites. We also will be releasing information about the new distribution centers. There'll be one per borough. Each will give out 2,000 home tests tomorrow just as an additional way to let everybody in every borough have access to home tests to meet them where they are, if that's how you want to be tested. Then, finally, our community-based organization are the best at knowing where the home tests need to go. So, we're giving them the home tests and then we're going to work with them and they're going to be the ones making the distribution. So, we aren't announcing it as formally as the rest because it's up to them to be active in their communities and they're the experts in doing that. Thanks, Katie.   

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Katie.  

Question: Thanks. And I know it asked this the other or day, but I keep hearing from City employees who are very concerned with the lack of flexibility in the City's lack of a telework program or whatever telework policy. [Inaudible] in their words and they've sent me the policy. You know, it seems like it's very difficult to take paid vacation leave or even sick leave if they're not exhibiting symptoms, but believe they've been exposed. They've also concerned – expressed concern because Commissioners of certain agencies and supervisors have not been at work, but they have to be. So, it feels a little bit of a double standard within that. So, do you want to address that? I know you have hundreds of thousands of City employees who, at least, according to what I'm hearing from them, very disappointed and, frankly, afraid of the working conditions that they have to work under without any flexibility on the part of the city and you.  

Mayor: Well, Katie, respectfully, I don't see it that way. I don't think those are the facts. I think we’ve got a workforce that's 94 percent vaccinated, that is the single most important piece of the equation. We got very extensive health and safety measures in our workplaces. They've been working. I remember when we brought back the workforce in May, people said the sky would fall. And we brought back people full time and they said the sky would fall, and the sky didn't fall, and it's not going to fall this time either. We care about our workforce a lot, that's why we provided a healthy environment and that's why we mandated vaccination. And I don't agree that supervisors are not communicating and working with people. I think my experience is they are and Commissioners, of course, are doing everything they do. As fact, a lot of Commissioners are working extra hard to get to the end of this year and finish out a lot of work. So, we have the tools. If someone gets a positive test, then they qualify, of course, for very generous sick leave. If they get a negative, they're negative. It's straightforward in that sense. But we need to keep this city running and that is our responsibility as public servants. We need to keep this city running and that's what we intend to do.   

Moderator: Next is Paul Liotta from the Staten Island Advance.  

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?  

Mayor: Good, Paul. How are you doing?  

Question: I'm well, sir. Thank you. So, regarding outages at for City workers, are there any departments that are currently of major concern and what is being done to address staffing?  

Mayor: No, we have – obviously, we've got some people out sick because of Omicron, but everything’s functioning. I mean, this is – this is a reality we're going to face for a few weeks. We're going to see a high number of people out sick for a brief period of time. And people will go through their 10 days or, as you heard, that that number may even come down soon. But, right now, if it's a 10-day period, when people are out of commission, everyone comes off their 10 days, comes online, and if others are getting sick, you know, we just keep moving. But everything is functioning. I mean, this is the beauty of this very strong, proud City government we have. Our agencies are doing a great job. Everything is functioning and moving forward. And we're going to get through this. We're going to get through this. It'll be a tough few weeks, but we're going to get through it. Go ahead, Paul.  

Question: Thank you for that, sir. And regarding our reporting at the NYCHA Stapleton development, we received some information that looks like stovetop gas could return as early as May, that would make it for a year's worth of outages for the residents at one of the buildings there. Just wondering if you're aware of this and what can be done to expedite the situation.  

Mayor: Well, we will, today, my team will double back with the leadership at NYCHA. They have been dealing with this and some other very difficult circumstances, because some of the buildings by nature of their age or the fact that they never were [inaudible] it's amazing how this kind of problem is structural throughout a building and takes immense work to resolve. We all would think, oh, you know, flip a switch, put it back on. It's the exact opposite. These are very, very involved, complex projects to get things restored. But we want it to go as fast as possible. Every resource is going to be made available. If there's anything NYCHA needs they don't have, we'll make it available to them. And, obviously, the coordination with utilities as well. So, I'll have the team double back today with the NYCHA leadership and get you an update today. But I feel bad for the residents who are going through it. And the answer – the bigger answer, Paul, is we’ve got to fix up all of our public housing buildings. We have a plan to do that, particularly with the RAD initiative, which started in the Obama administration. And that's working, but it's going to take real time to get more and more done. The thing we need the most is Build Back Better, because Build Back Better would include a huge amount of funding for New York City public housing so we could actually go to the root of these problems and fix these buildings on a vast scale. That's what we need the most to help folks in Staten Island and all over the city.   

Moderator: The next is Jimmy from the Wall Street Journal.  

Question:Guten morgen, burgermeister [inaudible] –  

[Laughter]  

Mayor: Jimmy, you’ve got range there, brother. Buenos dias to you.   

Question: So, my question is for the doctors. First question, what percentage of the COVID infections that have been confirmed in the past, say three or five days, have been among vaccinated people?  

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, I know you're an expert on this topic. What would you like to say?  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. Jimmy, I don't have a specific percentage that I can give you, because it takes us time to do the match with the vaccination status. But here's what I can tell you in terms of what we do know. Certainly, before Omicron, the risk of both infection, but then particularly for severe disease was significantly higher for unvaccinated people compared to vaccinated people. For cases, it was on the order of seven times as high for unvaccinated people. For hospitalizations, on the order of 13 times as high. With Omicron, we do know and we do expect that there will be more infections among vaccinated people because of its greater ability to evade the immune system. However, what we're keeping the closest eye on is how that translates into disease and particularly severe disease among vaccinated individuals. And, as of now, we have not seen a major signal of that. Although, we continue to monitor it day by day. What that means is that the people who remain hospitalized, a significant majority of them are unvaccinated. And that proportion increases when you look at patients who are in the intensive care unit. So, these are things that we will be following in the coming days and weeks, but that's what I can tell you about what we know right now.   

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Jimmy.  

Question: Great. And this is a complete switch of topic, but I've been reporting about what changes are going to happen when Mayor-elect Adams takes over in the new year. And many business leaders, real estate developers in the city have talked about how they're encouraged by what they feel is an open line of communication with the incoming administration and the incoming mayor. And many of them told me that they felt that there was sort of an arms-length or frosty relationship with you. They point to, sort of, your opening inauguration speech, pointing to remarks you made about Mayor Bloomberg, etcetera, and the whole tale of two cities rhetoric. So, I'm wondering if you want to respond to that. And also, if you have any thoughts about the best ways to engage New York's business leader for Mayor-elect Adams, or reflections on how you've done it over the last eight years.  

Mayor: Well, it's a big question, Jimmy. I appreciate it. Let me say first, in this crisis we've gone through these last couple years, I've had a lot of conversations with a lot of business leaders and they've been very productive, very collegial. I heard loud and clear the concerns of the business community, what it was going to take to get us through this, and to keep people's livelihoods in place, and that's really what came down to. You know, there was a long time there where we didn't know if there would be stimulus or extended unemployment benefits or any of that stuff. And it really came down to trying to protect people's job and livelihoods. And I think there was a lot of common ground. There was a lot of common ground about how important it was to keep the city moving forward, but do it in a smart way; how important it was to have our schools open; how important it was to do everything we could to bring back our offices. And even with the most recent action, the private sector vaccine mandate, there's clearly some who like it more and some who like it less, but there's been a recognition that the government acting is so much better than putting the private sector in a position of having to act in isolation. So, I think there's been in these last couple years many instances where we came together, and understood each other, and worked well together. To your bigger point, there is a natural tension, of course, if you want to address inequality, as I do, as is core to my being, and not accept the status quo, that's going to make some people uncomfortable. I know a lot of business leaders, I know a wealthy people who believe we need to change things and believe there's profound inequalities that are dangerous and unsustainable. And I know some who bluntly do not give much weight to that reality and don't pay attention to it enough. But to me, it is the necessary discussion. And I've had this conversation with some of those prominent business leaders even in this country, and said, if we don't – if we don't address inequality, income inequality, and all other forms inequality, if we don't dress it soon and sharply, we're going to be in a very dangerous place. The divisions we've seen before will only get worse. So, I think some business leaders hear that, respect it. I think some are put off by it. But I'm not going to change who I am and what I believe we have to do. Also, I believe in taxing the wealthy on a much higher level. I believe the wealthy are not paying their fair share of taxes. I think there's actually some wealthy people who agree with that. That's obviously going to create some distance for some people, just saying that out loud and believing it to my core. But that said, Jimmy, on the reflective point, I will also take some real responsibility on myself. There are times where I could have been a better communicator for sure. There are times when I realized I should have slowed down, and brought people in the room, or gotten people on the phone, and talk things through some more. And I certainly think where I have good relationships with a lot of folks in the business community is where I did that, worked more consciously. And where I have, you know, less good relationships, it's where I didn't take that time as much as I should have. So, that's a lesson I've learned for the future. And certainly, during this crisis, during COVID, I found that dialogue has gone a long way. I'll give you an obvious example – I mean, I’ve had the honor of having Danny Meyer, Union Square Hospitality Group, as the chair of our Economic Development Corporation. He's a fantastic business leader, also guy with the great social conscience. I asked him to come into government and help us deal with the COVID crisis. He's been great at that, but we've also had a constant dialogue and we knew each other before, but not with the depth of, you know, the relationship we have now. And that dialogue has been healthy. And he's challenged me sometimes, but in a in a way that was really thoughtful and important. So, going forward, I want to do more of that with business leaders and with others.  

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Joe Anuta from Politico.  

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?   

Mayor: Good, Joe. How have you been?  

Question: Not too bad. I was wondering if you could just provide some context on the announcements you made today. What is the current daily to testing capacity in terms of number of tests for the current number of City-sites. And then, with the addition of the seven new ones you plan to open, and, if you know, the six federal ones that are on their way, what will the new daily testing capacity be?  

Mayor: Really important question. I'm going to turn to Ted Long, or, obviously, if Mitch Katz wants to add as well. And I would also say to you, Joe, at the outset, this is evolving, because, as we talked about, like a month ago, testing – we were getting less and less business and moving to more and more of a mobile approach. And, obviously, emphasis was, first and foremost, vaccination. We've got to keep that focus on vaccination first, especially with our new booster incentive. That's where the most important impact will be. But now, we're in just constant growth pattern with testing. We're going to build out as much as we possibly can for this intensive few weeks with Omicron. The big X-factor for us will be the home test kits. If we get those in really big numbers, really soon, that's going to relieve a huge amount of pressure on the test sites. But we're still not 100 percent sure how much we're going to get, when. And that's the X-factor here. But to your question, how much capacity per day can we do now? And what kind of build out can we see in the short-term – Ted, what do you got?  

Executive Director Long: All right. Thank you, sir. So, Joe, first question is, what's our overall citywide capacity? Instead of projecting a number for you, I'll give you what we've actually done as a city. So, on December 15th, we did 168,490 PCR plus antigen tests. That's a new record for us. That's actually still counting. So, it'll probably be north of 170,000 soon. That's above our previous record of 120,000. For 119 sites, more than 30 of them are new sites. Among the more than 30 new sites that we've added since we've started to build, that's going to give us an additional capacity of 24,600 under tests per day. And that's on top of doing about that with our current doubled mobile fleet and our current brick-and-mortar sites that we've had. So, we've been building substantially. We've already been doing double what we were doing three weeks ago, and we're going to have the capacity to double that again. I hope that answers your question.  

Mayor: So, Ted, well, I want to – I'm going to ask it for clarity. We're obviously dealing with what we think will be a challenging few weeks, but where do you see our maximum going in the short-term per day for these City sites? Daily maximum total, what are you seeing?  

Executive Director Long: For our City sites, I would see our daily maximum total as being probably on the order of 40,000 tests per day. And I would say, citywide, we’re probably – we've already reached around 170,000, I think we're going to reach around 180,000 if we haven't already. So, City sites will be doing an important piece of that. But I do want to – you're bringing up a good point – just to say, across the city, our private hospitals, our private practices, our community health centers are doing really important work. We as city want to make sure that we're offering testing equitably to every neighborhood. We have big numbers here, but more important than just the numbers, is our approach to being guided by our communities. If it wasn't for that, we wouldn't be able to bring the equity in testing –  

Mayor: Okay. I'm pulling you back to numbers – 180,000 a day, all elements combined, and that's without including the home test kits that people could take with. Correct?   

Executive Director Long: Correct.   

Mayor: Okay. And so, I think to Joe's question, if we think city and others, 180,000 a day, obviously we would like to see those home test kits cover, you know, thousands in the short-term – ultimately, tens of thousands of people a day on top of that. So, I'm, I'm talking out loud with you, Ted, doing our math live. I would assume when we get a really ample supply of home test kits, we could easily be up above 200,000 when you add them into the equation each day. Would you agree with that?   

Executive Director Long: Absolutely.   

Mayor: Okay. Go ahead, Joe.  

Question: Thanks for the several follow up questions on my behalf, Mr. Mayor.   

Mayor: I want adjunct status today. I want an ID card from Politico.  

Question: And I still get my second question. This is great.   

Mayor: Yes, you do.  

Question: I wanted to touch on something that Mike asked you earlier about the punitive segregation, solitary confinement. When Eric Adams was speaking the other day, I think, in part, he was responding to a letter that had been written by a group of incoming Council members, essentially challenging his desire to, to use this form of, I guess, incarceration. And he basically said, look, there's a group of people, they're not really on the same page as me. He, in his mind, they're not trying to move the city forward. And so, his response as mayor to would be to sort of just ignore them and do what he's going to do. More than half of the incoming Council signed that letter. So, I'm wondering, you know, as a progressive person who's been mayor for eight years and you have a little bit of experience in this, do you think that's an effective strategy when dealing in with the City Council, is to just ignore a large block of people when they don't agree with something you'd like to do?  

Mayor: Look again, my entire experience with Eric Adams, now going back over a couple of decades as he listens to people, he works with people. He put together a very broad coalition in his election. Which I admired and I think is indicative of who he is and how he will govern. I think one of the things that he was talking about was the fact that he hasn't even taken the office and he would prefer, and I, you know, relate to this. He would prefer folks to come to him and raise concerns and work with him. You know, especially when he hasn't even gotten into office yet. So, I think what you're going to find is he will work well with people. I think the impulse of those council members, I certainly accept that they, you know, with a full heart and in a way that they felt really reflected their values and concerns, they were saying, let's not go back to what was broken about solitary confinement. And I agree with them on that, but I also think we have to be respectful of the fact that a new mayor coming in wants people to try and work together and communicate and come to him and come to his team in a spirit of legality. And I think that's a fair, a fair concern.   

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Yehudit from Borough Park 24 News.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?   

Mayor: I'm doing well, Yehudit. How are you?  

Question: Great, fantastic. So, on Omicron, I feel like we're getting some mixed messages and I'm wondering whether the physicians could please provide some clarity. On the one hand, everyone is, you know, that you're saying, and the doctors are saying, this is not like what we went through in March 2020, because we have better tools, a high level of vaccination. And also, that Omicron creates more mild and mild cold symptoms. But yet I feel like there's a certain level of hysteria that the Omicron variant accounts for 73% of all cases and Dr. Katz said the other day, he's preparing the hospitals for what could be a deluge of patients. But I'm wondering of the 73 cases nationwide, how many are really sick or hospitalized for how many just have mild symptoms. And I know that there's a lag time between infection and hospitalization and that vaccination prevents against severe disease. But I'm wondering, based on what the doctors have seen in South Africa and other countries, I'm wondering whether doctors Katz, Chokshi & Long can provide clarity on whether the cases of Omicron in New York City, whether the cases are considered mild, even among the unvaccinated and how many people hospitalized worldwide in the surge right now were vaccinated?   

Mayor: All right, now Yehudit that was long and multi-part question. So, we're going to try and boil that down a little. The first part I want to pull out of that is what's happening in our hospitals.  You use the word sort of the, the hype or whatever that's going on here. I want to emphasize, I think if we look at the facts, we look at the fact that this is profoundly different than 2020. This is, this is really, really important. In 2020, we had a brand new, shocking reality of COVID. Now after almost two years, our hospitals really do know how to handle COVID in so many ways, better than before. We have vaccination on a vast level and growing It is an entirely different reality. And Omicron is very different, and its impact based on a lot of what we've seen so far. So, we’ve got to just keep reassuring people. You, I heard you say, you know, you feel there's some mixed message. Well, I do think there, there's some whipping up of fear out there, but we're not doing that. We're doing the opposite. We're reassuring people because of the facts. And I'm going to start with Dr. Kat and I think the most powerful facts is what's happening in his hospitals. Is he preparing for more cases? Sure. And there's going to be a brief and challenging time, and we're going to have a lot more cases, but I think what's happening in is ICUs and how it compares to 2020 is the most pertinent story here. So, Dr. Katz, could you speak to that?  

President Katz: Thank you, sir. And I think you've gotten it very well. I think that what, what Yehuda you're seeing as a mixed message is how people respond to the transparency of the data. What the data show are that cases are astronomically increasing. No question. Cases themselves we've never seen as high levels. However, as the mayor has said very sick people, no. That the 11 hospitals of Health and Hospital currently have 54 patients in our ICUs due to COVID. That's compared to the peak in March 2020, where we had 970 and the 54 is compared to the lowest, we got to, which was around 20, a few weeks ago. So very, very slight increases in the sickest of patients. We are seeing mild increases in people who need to come in for a few days of oxygen therapy. They generally don't need to be intubated. They don't need to be in the ICU. So, cases huge increase. ICU, tiny increase. People in the middle needing hospitalization, mild increase. A lot of the preparation that I'm working on is not because I'm worried about a deluge of sick patients. What I'm worried about is a large number of my own staff exposed to Omicron, and therefore on 10-day isolations. That's already been happening and to the extent that I lose these people and we have to lose them in order for everybody's protection. That's the staffing problem that I'm worried about, but we continue to see mild disease. I think the, the implicit question you asked is Omicron milder in the unvaccinated. I think that's an open question. I don't think that's yet known. There's just not enough data at least that I feel comfortable being able to tell you. What I am comfortable saying is that among people who are vaccinated which is most of New York City the disease seems to be very mild. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Hey – and Ted, I'm going to just do a quick follow up my own. You did a great job yesterday explaining the virus and the nature of the virus. People, a lot of people said to me that was very, very helpful to hear. I want you just take a piece of what you said about what's happened in the hospital. You, you mentioned to me other day when you don't have to intubate people, of course, what that means for their health and wellbeing, but also what it means for your staffing, because you're yeah, you're going to have people out for 10-day periods and then they'll come back. But the other question is how much staff you need to handle the people you have and how the qualitative reality has changed. So, could you talk about what it means how many people you're intubating and, and what it means that you're doing less, what it means for your staffing?  
    
President Katz: Yeah. So, thank you. So, if someone is on a ventilator at most a highly trained intensive care nurse can take care of two patients on a ventilator. If patients are on a regular medical floor because they need oxygen, but don't need a ventilator, the, then a nurse can take care of about five patients. And so, it doesn't, it's the intubation people on ventilators who really drive the level of staffing. And so right now, again, I'm doing okay. We have enough staffing at all our hospitals. We are using overtime. We are bringing in registry staff as we're as we need to, but not a crisis we are doing well. And as long as we are still in a place where most people's diseases mild will, we will not see anything like what we saw in March of 2020.  

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Yehudit.  

Question: Okay. Thank you. I just, as I represent the worriers of the world, I wanted to see how worried we, the vaccinated should be. But then another, just to broach, another subject that I worry about in your last press conference to, in which you updated New Yorkers on crime, you celebrated the accomplishments of precision policing and neighborhood policing. Yet the NYPD revealed hate crime that went up as startling 97 percent in 2021, over 2020. And as always, the majority of those crimes, 179 out of 474 were aimed at the city's Jews. So, I'm wondering, what do you think precision policing and neighborhood policing are not doing to prevent hate crimes that drove rose so dramatic?   

Mayor: Yeah. Let me answer that. And then, I'm actually going to just do extra credit on that question of what unvaccinated people should feel at this moment in the face of Omicron. Because I want to give Dr. Katz an opportunity to really pound the point about how much more protection vaccination provides against Omicron. And I just think people need to hear that again. So, I'm going to go back to him in one second, but on this point, you raise what we know is, and, and Yehuda you and I have talked about this before. It's not just this horrible stretch we've been through with COVID and the interrelationship of that to an increase of crime for a period of time, including hate crimes. The problem of antisemitism is deep and intense around the entire world. And I always say, you know, some people had, unfortunately the hope or the illusion that it was stamped out after World War II. In fact, it was only dormant in a lot of countries in the West, in particular that acted like they were so civilized and so tolerant and so inclusive, but the antisemitism was bubbling right below the surface. And it now is manifested in many countries very deeply and dangerously. So that is to me the profound problem that we have to confront. We have to stamp out antisemitism in a, in a really fundamental way. And that's going to take years of hard work. And I'm worried about the nativism. I'm worried about that we've seen in the last few years in this country coming up that is bad news for Jewish people, for immigrants, for people of a variety of faiths and backgrounds. It's something which we are very concerned about and keep fighting. In the last couple years, we have seen that uptick in hate crimes. It's unacceptable. I believe the combination of the government and the police standing strong with the community and other communities standing together with the Jewish community is the way to push that back, fight that back in the here and now. And I believe in consequences, anyone who commits a hate crime, NYPD finds them. We hold them accountable. There needs to be serious penalties, serious outcomes. You do all of that, we will turn this. I really believe it. And we've seen upticks before, and we've seen how we fight them back and get them back down. That's what we got to do again. And I'm quite certain, that's what we're going to do. And I think 2022 is going to be a better year and we're going to come out of the COVID era and that's going to help us a lot. Finishing, Dr. Katz , back to you, hammer this nail, brother. If you're unvaccinated the difference, if you're unvaccinated versus vaccinated in confronting Omicron.  

President Katz: Sir, huge difference. And thank you for giving me another opportunity to review with New Yorkers that overwhelmingly the patients who are in our ICU, who are on ventilators with COVID, are the unvaccinated. And just to sort of help to block a misinformation. Yes. many people know someone who is vaccinated and boosted who still got very sick. that's because some people are on immunosuppressive drugs or have an underlying immunodeficiency, which means that they do not develop the same level of antibodies when they get vaccinated. So, it's incumbent on all of the rest of us to help protect them by getting vaccinated so that we are not exposing them. And it's also why you and Dr. Chokshi put out a commissioner's note that people who are elderly, people who are immunosuppressed should skip optional activities right now, because we know that they do not mount as robust a response. But even they are much safer with vaccination. It's not about cases, it's about keeping people out of the hospital, keeping people off ventilators, not allowing fellow New Yorkers to die. That's what we most care about. And vaccination is how we do that. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you. Beautifully said, Dr. Katz, and thank you to you and all of our healthcare leaders who have been so much powerful voices and so helpful to your fellow New Yorkers. I'm thankful for all of you Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long, and all your colleagues who have helped people through. And right now, this is our last scheduled press conference before Christmas, that obviously might change depending on current events, but I wanted to this opportunity to just wish all New Yorkers very Merry Christmas, very happy holidays whatever your faith, whatever your background, we all belong here.  We're all in this together and whatever you're doing to celebrate or gather with family and friends I just want to wish you, you a time of peace and joy. It, it's sad. It's really sad that we have this new worry with Omicron right when we are hoping to take a break from all this and, and just be with our loved ones. It's another stress on top of all the stresses we've been through. It's tough. It's very tough. But I'm just even with that, I'm so appreciative. I'm so appreciative for all the people out there working every day to keep everyone safe. Thanks to our health care heroes and our first responders. Everyone is vaccinating people, testing people, all these people care and, and they, they are there for you. And even though we're going through that stress and, and it, it just is such a weight. I am so grateful for the people who are helping each other and showing that love for their fellow New Yorkers. And I think that's something we should be inspired by. I think even, even as we wish we had a different dynamic here in our holidays, we're being reminded of the meaning of the holidays. We're being reminded of what all our traditions tell us, which is to love thy neighbor. And that's what New Yorkers are doing every single day to keep each other safe. So, very Merry Christmas, very happy holidays to all. And we will see you again soon.  

 

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